PETA is encouraging a boycott on PetSmart and that’s what this video is about.

There was a time when PetSmart was a needed relief. They were the only pet supply store in many areas of the US that didn’t sell cats and dogs. Many of us conscientious shoppers flocked to PetSmart because it was a welcome change from the corner pet store with puppy mill dogs. PetSmart has been part of a revolution in the the industry and has helped plenty of people understand that pet store pets come from places like puppy mills.

We’ve come a long way, baby, but now PetSmart is dragging their feet. They’re not keeping up with the times. They need to stop selling all animals. (PetSmart never should have sold live animals in the first place.) Cats and dogs were a good first step, but PetSmart shouldn’t sell any live animals. That’s why PETA is encouraging a boycott.

Boycotting PetSmart is not enough. You’ll probably want to boycott all pet stores. It’s not like PetSmart is the only pet store that sells live animals, right? And well, if you really think about it, all pet stores profit from the idea that animals are property. They’re not called “companion animal stores,” “rescue animal stores,” or even “animal supply stores” are they? They’re called “pet stores,” as in, places where you buy pets.

Luckily for us, we have other options. We don’t have to shop at PetSmart anymore. We don’t have to choose the lessor of two evils. Now we can get companion animal supplies at a variety of other places or we can even make our own. (Dog food is easy to make!) We don’t have to support businesses that profit from animal suffering.

Hopefully you already don’t shop at pet stores. Hopefully, if you have companion animals, you already buy their supplies at places that don’t sell live animals. But in case you do shop at pet stores, even just for cat food and kitty litter or dog food and poo bags, please stop. Consider the alternative options.

What about the adoption events you wonder?
Well, sure, maybe you want to stop by and adopt a rescue animal during a rescue animal adoption event held at a big pet store. Go ahead. Adopt rescue animals if you want. (Key word: rescue.) Just don’t buy anything at the pet store and don’t make a habit of visiting the pet stores on a regular basis. For all practical purposes, boycott pet stores.

You have other options. You can get companion animal supplies online through vegan stores like these, which profit from encouraging and supporting veganism, not pet ownership:

• Vegan Essentials
• V-dog vegan dogfood
• Cosmo’s Vegan Shoppe
• Vegan Store
• DownBound
• In the future: Las Vegan

Or you can buy companion animal supplies at animal supply stores that don’t sell animals.

Update: Here’s another reason not to shop at traditional pet stores…
“at the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Marshals seized various animal food products stored under unsanitary conditions at the PETCO Animal Supplies Distribution Center [...] The distribution center in Joliet, Ill., provides pet food products and supplies to PETCO retail stores in 16 states including Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.” reports the FDA in their recall news.

Sections: Vegan Activism, Vegan Video
Topics: pet stores, Vegan, vegan video